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Brunch at The Marrow

Ever since The Marrow was buzzing earlier this year, I’ve been wondering how Chef Harold Dieterle would mesh Germanic and Italian fare, after opening and operating his other restaurants Perilla and the Thai-inspired Kin Shop, all in the West Village.

I finally made my first visit for brunch with a good friend of mine who is equally curious as I am as he is a fan of Perilla restaurant.

Grilled TM Burger

The Grilled TM Burger ($17) was probably the best gourmet burger I’ve had in a long time. Grilled to a medium-rare that yielded a very juicy, fat dripping burger that could potentially be your hangover cure. The sharp, buttery Emmental cheese, the delicious, fatty marrow and sweet caramelized, sherried onions created robust flavors that complimented each other so well. The soft pretzel bun was squishy enough that it absorbed the wonderful juices of the burger beautifully and had some malty character beyond the standard burger bun.

The brioche pain perdu and duck liver mousse ($14) was something my friend and I hoped to like. This dish was supposed to be accompanied with pluot compote and Vermont maple syrup. When this dish landed on our table were not notified of the change of the pluot for blood orange marmalade.

When I take a bite of the sweet brioche French toast with the smooth, creamy duck liver mousse and blood orange marmalade, it didn’t meld well. The bold orange zest dominated the entire flavor profile that I had a hard time tasting anything else and the end note had a bitterness (common for citrus zest) that tied in with the metallic notes of the duck liver, made it quite unpleasant. If the components of this dish were separate, it’s tastes good and each were executed well.

We ended with a cinnamon raisin bun ($3) as our version of a dessert. The gooey cinnamon glaze was very cinnamon-y (a bit too much for my preference) and the bun itself was on the leaner side than I was imagining it to be (I was thinking brioche and this wasn’t it).

When the check arrived at our table, we’re presented with a pair of miniature oatmeal cherry and white chocolate cookies. These soft, chewy cookies were delicious and balanced with flavors that I wished they served more of them.

Though there were some flaws with a few dishes, I’m still intrigued what dinner would be like and I’m very curious of the much praised ginger stout cake. Service was attentive and warm despite of the staff not knowing about the pain perdu’s pluot change for blood orange.

To view more photos of this meal, please view the slideshow below (or CLICK HERE for my photo set: